Just checked Shapeways site and the UMBEE parts are now listed as "Not For Sale". I sure hope they make things right and send me a replacement, or else I will have no use of the hot end retainer and extruder arm.

What really sucks is that the all metal effector option was the deciding factor in choosing the D300VS in the first place. I have this hang up about mounting the hot end in flammable plastic; call it a personality defect.

I sure hope they make it right for you. It's unfortunate that there was an issue in the first place.

Question for Brad, although my parts look to be correct, their comments about the potential low accuracy is a little concerning. Is there any easy way to verify that my parts are to spec? If something is a little off, would the auto calibration make up for it?

Concerning for us also. If you had the hardware kit you would know during assembly if something was wrong. If you want I will buy your set. Email me at sales )at( ultibots dotcom to continue discussion...

Unfortunately auto calibration is not a silver bullet and the printer really needs to be "pretty close". In particular, issues in the motion mechanics like non-parallel arms or tilted effectors and arms can't be easily cured with calibration and grid compensation is just a band aid.

Well, I did respond to Brad via email, and as long as he can source the hardware parts at some point, I’d prefer to keep the Umbee. It does look pretty good, but I’ll get out calipers this weekend and try to check for any reasonable variance. At least as much as I can without having something to compare against. For all I know, I may have bought the last good one in existence, haha.

Nah, I got the last one a couple days ago. They reprinted mine and it's fine. I'll know for sure when I actually build it (so don't ask for my not-broken-as-bad-as-yours yet). Also, I'll be selling a fully built and tested Umbee once my Aero design is complete.

Just a quick update. Sorry for the delay, I was tied up and shipped overseas for work for a month.

Shapeways finally came through and produced a perfectly fine replacement UMBEE Main Body (all things considered). The assembly went together well with the exception of having to grind a little off of the MK8 drive gear to allow the groove in it to align properly with the filament guide in the UMBEE. I also had to correct for some slight misalignment issues in the main body with some gentle hand "persuasion" to get the mag-balls on a level plane and centered above the hot end.

Would I do it again? Not if there were accurately machined aluminum effector and matching carriages available. The plastic carriages and effector parts that came with the kit appear to be quite accurate and robust, and are no doubt lighter than the equivalent UBMEE parts. My decision not to use the stock plastic parts is a personal quest to limit the amount of flammable material in the printer, and should not be considered a negative endorsement of the stock Ultibots kit, which I find to be exceptional. When machined aluminum parts do become available, and they prove to be lighter, more precise and accurate than the Shapeways offerings, I will seriously consider changing over to them.